Nothing to Lose
by crazyanimefreak15
Summary: Zim hasn't been seen in a week and Dib finds a message for him. ZADF/ZADE WARNING:CHARACTER DEATH OneShot


**The brain child of homework procrastination and the song Titanium by David Guetta and Sia, and I don't own any of it. This includes Invader Zim.**

**Thank-you to my baby sister who beta read this.**

* * *

_**I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose  
Fire away, fire away  
Ricochet, you take your aim  
Fire away, fire away  
You shoot me down but I won't fall  
I am titanium**_

It was Thursday and Dib hadn't seen Zim since Friday. It could be assumed that Dib was worried. No, not about his green enemy, but the world he vowed to save. Zim had been working on something big for the past month almost nonstop, that's why Dib was worried. When the final bell rang, Dib took off running towards Zim's house, only taking a moment to tell Gaz that he wasn't walking home with her, which she didn't seem to care.

A feeling of dread washed over him and settled in his chest when he came to the block with the green and purple house at the end of the cul-de-sac, an unfamiliar feeling came to Dib that made him paused to wonder where it came from. He never had such a fear before, but from what he saw on the block, it was easy to imagine why. His mind was racing with all the possible things he might face once inside the house, and the sight of the oddly dark house, with dark clouds coming in with the intent of starting a storm made the already dark house seem ominous at best and the low rumbling of thunder in the far off distance only added to the menacing mood. There was also the fact that it was unnaturally quiet, not a sound to be heard save for the pounding of Dib's heart. The feeling made him pause at the end of the block, but now he forced himself to walk towards the house.

The uneasy feeling only grew when he found all the gnomes with their heads hung limply from their posts, obviously deactivated. Zim was clearly expecting him, the realization made Dib pause at the door. He just couldn't understand why he was so nervous about this time, but as he raised a shaking hand to the doorknob, he couldn't stop the feeling of fear that went through him. Something in the back of his mind told him not to open the purple door. Ignoring the voice, he took a deep breath and opened it.

"ZIM! Where are you, ZIM!?" He wasn't going for stealth, the gnomes told him Zim wanted him to come, and probably already knew he was here. The room was as dark and lifeless as the outside, yet when nothing happened and not a sound responded, he took a step forward. That was when he noticed a small round table in the middle of the room, lite up only by the dim light that came through the still open door. On it had a small piece of paper with his name on it and a disk.

After another moment of hesitation, Dib stepped forward, his curiosity overriding any safety concerns. Each step was slow and calculated, the creaking echoed throughout the silent house and only served to make Dib's heart pound harder. He was surprised when he managed to pick up both items without anything happening. He first flipped the paper with his name on one side and there was a small message on the other that simply read;

_Watch this._

_-Zim-_

He almost rolled his eyes at it. What did he expect him to do when he gave him the disk? He turned to take it home when the lights suddenly came on and the disk tray opened on the huge TV to his right. "Zim?" Dib called out again. Silence was his response and Dib opened his mouth to call again when he was interrupted.

**Master Zim is not here.**

Came the response, echoing all around him, seemingly to come from everywhere but nowhere at once. Obviously it was Zim's computer.

"Guess you want me to watch it now, huh?" Dib muttered and put the disk in the tray before heading over to the couch, the TV flickered to life as he did. He was really hesitant, watching a video that Zim made in his base, because clearly there was a reason Zim would make his computer make sure Dib watch it here. Dib definitely would have felt more comfortable at his house. But with the lights on and the reassurance, though as only mildly believable its words were, of the computer that Zim was not here, he settled in to watch the DVD.

Zim appeared on the screen, seated in his chair that Dib knew to be in his lab, he seemed pretty annoyed. But what was a real surprise was that Zim did not have his disguise on.

"The red light is on! Now what!?" Zim yelled through clenched teeth.

**That means its recording.** Came the equally annoyed response of Zim's computer. Zim jumped, evidently not realizing that it had been recording before he cleared his throat.

"Hello, Dib-stink." He started, while the words held venom, it didn't hold nearly as much as it usually did.

"By the time you watch this, I will be gone." Zim continued evenly, but some semblance of emotion flashed by his eyes, one that Dib couldn't identify and it made him uncomfortable. Zim was silent for a moment, looking somewhat uncomfortable himself, like he didn't know what to say next.

"I guess I might as well just say the truth. It would be about one of your earth months now that my…_the Tallests_, last contacted me." He continued. Dib was surprised at the amount of hatred that Zim managed to put behind his mention of his leaders. "They told me my mission was a lie." Zim paused, and Dib could see the alien fight back the pain of the betrayal as his eyes dropped to his hands that were placed on his lap.

"I tried my hardest to please them. I did everything they asked and more! But they still looked down at me…all I wanted was for them to recognize my effort. Instead they made me the joke among the Irken Empire! They mocked me behind my back and laughed at all my hard work!"

_The small VOOT cruiser inched closer to the galactic giant known at the Massive. Zim knew he had to move fast because, while they would not immediately shoot at their own ship, the moment they realized who was in it, though, they would most definitely open fire. So, Zim moved the ship in fast and opened the door to the docking bay his favorite way, with a large explosion, stealth was not what he was going for right now. He wanted them to know he was coming._

"I had started to reassemble and improve the Megadoomer to doom your filthy planet but have decided to use it to prove my superior skills. I will make them pay for humiliating me!" The rage that filled his voice was nothing that Dib had ever heard before.

_Zim grinned as he watched the Irken guards pile in, surrounding his small craft, aiming their weaponry at the ship. He waited till they were close before he pushed a button on the console. The microscopic Megadoomer that he had carefully placed on the VOOT controls grew at an alarming rate as Zim laughed manically. Once it was big enough, he quickly climbed in as it grew more and more, the VOOT cruiser couldn't hold it and it exploded, pieces taking out several Irken soldiers that were too close. Zim didn't care at the loss, he continued to laugh seeing the fearful looks on the remaining group as they eyed up the improved version of the best war machine that the Irken army had. Zim had added arms to the machine, perfect for swatting away pests that surrounded him._

"I will make them pay! They will regret what they did to me. I will make them know that they made a mistake when they underestimated ZIM! I will make them know that they made a mistake writing me off as a defect!" He fumed through clenched teeth as his fist came down on the controls at the computer that he sat at, leaving a destroyed patch on the panel. Dib was glad that he was not the object of the Irken's rage at that particular moment.

_Zim's reign of destruction continued into the halls, the narrow walls providing perfect opportunities for Zim to take down all in his way with his shoulder mounted Gatling gun-like weapon. He forced himself through the halls of the Massive leaving behind hundreds of bodies and the walls, ceilings, and floors painted purple with Irken blood, he knew where he was going and nobody was going to stop him. He soon came to the room that held his targets, the door proving no match to hold back the Megadoomer._

"I'm going to kill the Tallests. I will probably be erased from Irken history; any trace of me will be found and destroyed till there is nothing left. It'll be like I never existed, and there will be nobody whom this bothers. But I don't care as long as I crush _them_."

_Zim was face to face to his ex-leaders. He had burst in and shot everyone else around them, and the Megadoomer currently sat in the newly expanded doorway, preventing anyone from entering anytime soon. He had already been disarmed, his guns now lying at the feet of the two Tallests, he only had two short laser swords that all Irken carried in their PAK as a backup weapon. His grip tightened and he charged at them once again._

"I will make them see that they can't walk over others without consequences. They will soon learn their mistakes and prove that they shouldn't underestimate others. They believe that they are untouchable but I will cut them down! It is time for me to fight for my moment! For me to fight for my right to exist!"

_Zim felt the blast pierce his PAK and continue straight through his chest. But Zim grinned even as the world turned black and his body fell limp. His grip released the handle of the blade that was embedded in Red's chest and continued through his PAK. Purple lay not too far away, gun pointed at the smaller Irken, his blood pooling around him from the wounds Zim had given him. He watched as the two bodies fell before, he too, blacked out._

"Dib, you may be nothing more than a smelly hyuman, but you were the only one to ever recognize my abilities. And while I may be forgotten for the rest of time by everyone else, I hope I will never be forgotten by you. GIR is currently in the lab, shut down; I have already reprogramed him to recognize you as his new master. Take care of him. Good-bye, Dib-stink, and…thank-you." And with that, the video ended.

Dib turned it off. He had watched it so many times over the next year that he had every word memorized, but that time was different, and when that time ended, Dib was smiling.

"Did it work, Lord Narr?" Dib asked the alien captain from the control panel of the Resisty ship.

"It was perfect, Dib. That played on every transmission wave throughout the galaxy. There is no doubt that everyone saw that. The Irken Empire will soon meet its end."

Dib smiled, he had been determined to make sure that his rival's pain was never forgotten and the day that he first watched the video, he sent out the video signals into the galaxy using Zim's computer. He played it on endless repeat before Lord Narr saw it and contacted him. Using the video and footage hacked from the Massive, courtesy of someone named Scoodge, they just shown the whole galaxy what one determined being could do against the feared empire. They would build a resistance and with Zim's fight as inspiration, the Irken Empire would fall. Zim would be remembered throughout history and all he has done.


End file.
